Most popular tire sizes in 2008

Each year the Rubber Manufacturers Association publishes its annual breakdown of the most popular tire sizes in its “Preliminary Tire Industry Factbook.” The 2009 edition has just been released and it looks as if the top four replacement tires from last year have held their ground in the top spots. Original equipment tire sizes were a different story, where there were a few noteworthy ranking changes.

The four most popular replacement tire sizes (calculated as a percentage of the total tires shipped by RMA-member companies) were:

P225/60R16

P235/75R15

P205/65R15

P215/70R15

Original equipment tire sizes ranked as follows:

P215/60R16 (8% of RMA shipments)

P225/55R17 (4.8%…up from #8 in last year’s report)

P265/70R17

P195/60R15

P215/55R17

The 2009 report is valuable information for both wholesale tire distributors as well as brick-and-mortar and online tire stores who are wondering what to stock in the new year. Using this analysis is an easy way to guage which sizes are going to sell often.